1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of medical imaging systems. Particularly, the present invention relates to an algorithm for mass spicules detection, tracing and display from digital mammography images in conjunction with a mammography CAD (Computer-aided detection) server and a digital mammography workstation.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Mass spicules are visible as lines radiating from the margin of a mass. Most breast carcinomas have a mammographic appearance with such a spiculated structure, so it is an important sign used by radiologists when making a cancer diagnosis. The quality of automatic spicules detection and tracing has a direct impact on the detection performance of a CAD system. Displaying this information on a CAD workstation helps radiologists understand the CAD markers, and is especially important to help the radiologist dismiss false positive markers, and to enforce a positive finding. Although current CAD systems may display relevant information, (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,591 September 1998 Roehrig, Romsdahl and Zhang “Method and apparatus for fast detection of spiculated lesions in digital mammograms”), no current CAD systems or workstations display computer generated spicules traces.
Therefore, there is a need for better systems for mass spicules detection and tracing from digital mammograms.